At Descanso, Arden Proves Intelligent if Conventional

The Arden Trio returned to the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series Sunday afternoon in the Van de Kamp Hall at Descanso Gardens, a utilitarian space with a supportive acoustic despite noisy air-conditioning. The ensemble brought a longish (no intermission) and fairly conventional program, and played it with familiar point and passion.

As a genuine and welcome novelty, the Arden Trio--pianist Thomas Schmidt, violinist Suzanne Ornstein and cellist Clay Ruede--offered a dark and fey Andante movement by Grieg, sole relic of an abandoned trio project. This is gorgeously brooding, haunted music, delivered here with impressive skill and conviction.

Framing it were Beethoven’s Trio in G, Opus 1, No. 2, and Mendelssohn’s D-minor Trio, Opus 49--probably the piano trio. The Arden Trio takes an expansive view of the latter, rich in detail, clear in texture and deeply felt.

The Beethoven trio gave them opportunities to reflect and to romp, opportunities seized with intelligence and joy. This was a well-practiced but still active interpretation, alive with inquisitive interaction and pertinently realized expressive ideas. Warm, supple string sound and alert, probing pianism combined in a radiant reading, guided but not fettered by firm architectural focus.

In encore, the Arden Trio turned to Astor Piazzolla, a composer suddenly very hot among piano trios. His “Oton~o Porten~o,” in an arrangement much the same as the one recorded by the Eroica Trio, sounded sincere but rather square here, missing the edgier subtexts.